CLINTON TWP. - A century farm in Wayne County was used as a model for forest care Saturday as landowners learned about woods road reconstruction, invasive plant management and timber selection at a 125-acre property along Beech Grove Road.

Christy Ann Strange hosted the forestry field day, which was sponsored by the Wayne-Lackawanna Forest Landowners Association, to demonstrate the projects she recently finished to help harvest hay and timber and conserve the forest and farm for generations.

"I would like to keep this farm in the family, and the farm needs to pay for itself," she said.

About two-thirds of the property is forested, she said, and about 27 acres of that was choked with invasive multiflora rose and Japanese barberry. The plants were too thick to cut back each year, so the forester on the project, Craig Olver of Forest Care LLC, used a backpack sprayer to kill them with herbicide.

"The forest is a garden," Mr. Olver said. "Some of the same management practices you do in a garden you do in a forest."

The two also worked together on timber stand improvement, a method of thinning diseased or deformed trees to make room for healthy, more valuable trees to grow more quickly.

Experts with the Wayne Conservation District and the state Bureau of Forestry, as well as contractors who rebuilt a rutted farm road, spoke about wetlands crossing, construction techniques and forest management. Other presenters described deer management, pasture improvement and surveying.

Ms. Strange said she is passionate about growing trees and encouraging other property owners, especially women, to learn about conservation and stewardship.

"We are trying to get women more active in their woods and their fields," she said.

ONLINE: www.wlfla.org

Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com

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